The Text Of Great Britain: Theme and Design in Defoe's Tour

by Pat Rogers

This book is the first full-length analysis of one of the key books of the eighteenth century -- Daniel Defoe's Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. The creation of Defoe's Tour, its sources and models, and its relationship to earlier topographic literature are discussed. The Text of Great Britain argues that Defoe evolved a rhetorical design that would express his sense of Britain as a working system constructed around cities, the countryside, and roads to form an intelligible whole.

247 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Rogers, as usual, puts his extensive knowledge and research powers to good use, thoroughly contextualizing and exploring the rhetoric, structure, geography, economic analysis, and other elements of Defoe's work. The best and most up-to-date study of the Tour. Sometimes Rogers is a little over-the-top in his praise of Defoe and the Tour, but overall the work is a necessary complement to anyone studying the Tour.